Gas burners are commonly used on the cooktops of household gas cooking appliances including e.g., range ovens and cooktop appliances built into cabinetry. For example, gas cooktops traditionally have at least one gas burner positioned at a cooktop surface for use in heating or cooking an object, such as a cooking utensil and its contents. Gas burners generally include an orifice that directs a flow of gaseous fuel into a fuel chamber. Between the orifice and the fuel chamber, the gaseous fuel entrains air, and the gaseous fuel and air mix within the fuel chamber before being ignited and discharged out of the fuel chamber through a plurality of flame ports.
Normally aspirated gas burners rely on the energy available in the form of pressure from the fuel supplied to the gas burner to entrain air for combustion. Because the nominal pressure in households is relatively low, there is a practical limit to the amount of primary air a normally aspirated gas burner can entrain. Introducing a fan or another forced air supply into a gas burner assembly may improve the mixture of fuel and air for improved operation at higher outputs, with shorter flames and improved combustion, and with improved efficiency.
However, known gas burners with fans suffer several drawbacks. For example, forced air gas burners often require costly variable speed fans that vary with the fuel input to maintain a proper mixture of fuel and air. In addition, certain gas burners include multiple burner stages that compete for combustion air and cause operability issues. Such gas burners often require complex or costly control systems and/or flow regulators to achieve efficient combustion. For example, separate burner stages often require a dual-output valve which adds significant costs.
Accordingly, a cooktop appliance including an improved gas burner with forced aeration would be desirable. More particularly, a gas burner assembly with forced aeration that does not require a variable speed fan, costly valves, or a complex control system would be particularly beneficial.